WolfPack men’s soccer wins first Canada West playoff medal

Following a tough final four loss against UBC last night, the WolfPack men were back in black and earned bronze with a 2-0 victory against the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

The win is a boon for the ‘Pack as they upset the Golden Bears at UBC’s Ken Woods Field. The Bears and Wolves never met in the regular season, but TRU knew going in that it was going to be a tough team to beat. Alberta managed to dominate their own prairie division, going 9-1-4 on the regular season.

On Saturday night, the ‘Pack’s offense came through, with goals from Anatoli Leveille and James Fraser.

Leveille opened the scoring just eight minutes in, putting one past Bears keeper Connor James on an assist from Mitch Popadynetz. The next came from Fraser, as Koffi Nyavor sent the ball across to Fraser to score.

The scoreboard reflects just how defensive a game TRU played. The Golden Bears managed just four shots, two on goal, against keeper Allan Connor.

Connor was in for Lubomir Magdolen, who left the field following a collision near the net in yesterday’s game.

TRU kept its offense up throughout the game, sending 14 shots, five of them on goal.

Despite the medal, if this was any other year, the WolfPack’s season would be over, but as hosts they’ll play again next week in the U Sports soccer nationals, and the bronze they earned Saturday will likely give them some confidence as they go even further into uncharted territory.